I would like us to talk about a unique edge that believers have over everyone else; that is access to the voice of God. This is the reason we assemble in this place week after week. To hear what God is saying NOW.
There is a level of intelligence that is under utilised and even despised in the Church of this present era….it is intelligence that is communicated from the heavens … in the form of a proceeding Word; or a specific instruction for our lives.
Spiritual intelligence that is the consequence of spending time with Him; studying His Word and having a vibrant relationship with the Holy Spirit.
We should all desire to come to a place where God can give us specific directions like he did Elijah. Where He would instruct Elijah:
“Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine,
“Go at once to Zarephath
Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus.
Or like He would instruct His prophet Isaiah:
“Go back and tell Hezekiah
These are specific instructions for His servants. I believe that He also has specific instructions for us. As we spend time with Him in an abiding relationship, engaging the Holy Spirit, He will reveal His plans for our lives. We love the commands of God, His statutes, His decrees, the principles that shape us for Kingdom purpose, all His promises. We are constantly challenged and motivated as we read about the great exploits of God’s leaders and His prophets. However, we would also love specific instructions for our lives, without having to seek out a prophet or a diviner. We must develop our relationship with Him to such a place, where we have direct access to His voice.
I would like us to pay some attention to Paul’s writings to the believers in Corinth:
1 Cor 2:6-15
6 However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, 8 which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But as it is written:
“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”
10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. 11 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. 13 These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one.
The spirit world and the natural world are two totally different environments. Our greatest frustration in this present day is experienced as we are locked into a losing battle in trying to explain spiritual truths to the natural man. Jesus experienced the same resistance as He tried to explain this truth to Nicodemus:
John 3:6-8
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
Recently I shared a prayer point regarding revelation that I have called “classified” information. You may call it “proceeding” truth as well.
The word classified means that which is concealed or carefully guarded.
Here Paul says that there will be revelation released that has been locked away as “classified” to a previous generation of leadership.
It is human nature to resist that which has not been seen or heard before. That which our eyes have not seen; that which our ears have not heard.
We know that we are being persecuted by the natural man who has rendered the things we are now saying as “foolishness” because he wants everything to tie up and make sense to him in accordance to his formative education.
But he needs to know that there is a new order….a new government ….a new King ….who has His own trusted agency to deliver of classified information, the Holy Spirit. God is under no obligation to function in accordance to our limited understanding.
Much of what we say and do as spiritual people would be written off as foolishness.
Our obsession with public approval has cause us to stage manage the blowing of the wind.
The wind is dispatched to blow when and where it wants. We have all experienced an authentic blowing of the wind during some of our services. We did not plan for it. We did not expect such a move. Suddenly, it was upon us.
The Lord has delivered us by His Word, not to remain in any environment that is unworthy to receive us.
For us not to toil forever with the natural man.
There are those who are rendered worthy to receive spiritual intelligence. Those who are destined to receive proceeding truth.
This should be the environment that we should seek. For those of us that travel, we encounter people that cannot get enough of this message; they hang on to every word that we speak.
Peace is a retractible gift. We have the right to recall it.
Matt 10:12-15
12 And when you go into a household, greet it. 13 If the household is worthy, let your peace come upon it. But if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. 14 And whoever will not receive you nor hear your words, when you depart from that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet. 15 Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city!
Jesus likens the judgement that would befall those who resist our peace efforts to what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah. In actual fact He said the devastation would be worse. Spiritual intelligence imparted to us this morning is the same as the one given to Lot: take your household and shift quickly to higher ground before the fire falls.
We are not expected to toil forever in an unworthy, unrelenting, unforgiving, unproductive, abusive environment. Learn to shake the dust off your clothes.
Paul was experiencing a great deal of hostility towards his message in Corinth. The Bible says that the Jews became abusive. Paul shook the dust off his clothes.
Acts 18:9-11
“Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. 10 For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.” 11 So Paul stayed for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God.
Acts 18:9
9 One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision …. An impartation of spiritual intelligence. You are not one man….you are one man amongst many.
HAVE YOU EVER RECEIVED A WORD FROM GOD THAT YOU WERE AFRAID TO SHARE FOR WHATEVER REASON
AND THEN SOMEBODY ELSE SHARES IT ….THEN YOU REALISE THAT GOD HAS MANY VESSELS AT HIS DISPOSAL.
OIL WILL KEEP FLOWING INTO THE VESSELS…. WHATEVER SHAPE OR SIZE.
Spiritual intelligence is communicated in a format that may be foreign to our own systems of presenting truth.
Proceeding truth comes out of the MOUTH OF GOD.
Once again let us agree that God is under no obligation to speak in a way that the people are familiar with.
Consider how Jesus communicated in parables.
In another instance some Greeks came with a seemingly innocent request to see Jesus. A simple yes or No would suffice. Jesus responded in His own way, not bothering about whether His visitors understood the message or not. These were natural men who received a spiritual response.
John 12:23-26
The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. 24 Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. 25 He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.
All these Greeks wanted was to meet with Him. What Jesus actually told them was that your vessels are not configured to receive spiritual intelligence.
You have to submit to the process of death; and then be born again in the Spirit. Be prepared to lose your ways of doing life….
There are many Greeks and foreigners sitting in our Churches wanting to see Him without knowing Him.
Moses encountered God’s ways of communicating when God gave Moses his first message to deliver to Pharaoh.
The message Moses carried to Pharaoh would have been despised by many believers in this day for its lack of depth, or its presentation.
All Moses’ objections were based on is own understanding about the way people are. His low self esteem. His inability to communicate effectively.
He allowed his knowledge of people’s perceptions to block out an impartation of spiritual intelligence.
Ex 4:12
12 Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say.”
Ex 4:15
15 Now you shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth. And I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and I will teach you what you shall do.
This is the level of intelligence we seek. Where God Himself will teach us what to speak. Where proceeding truth is put in our mouth. My daily prayer is “Be with my mouth Lord”.
God told Jeremiah the same thing.
Jer 1:9
9 “Behold, I have put My words in your mouth.
It makes all the difference to know that we carry a Word that has been placed in our mouth by God. Because He supports His Word with His Presence…His power. His Word is anointed.
To all men and women of God, to all preachers, Jesus declared that His yoke is easy.
How easy ministry is when all you have to do is to carry that which has been entrusted to you. Where you function from this position of rest, not being intimidated by the structures and systems of man; the political correctness that is demanded from the multitude; where we are delivered from the language and the literature of the Chaldeans and simply deliver the message; that which comes from the MOUTH OF GOD.
Do not be embarrassed to say “I am sent me’. You see that which has been placed in your mouth cannot be shaken. There is only one way to check the authenticity of proceeding truth:
THROUGH OBEDIENCE AND DISOBEDIENCE
The authenticity of a Word cannot be established by its presentation; or the way a message may be painstakingly or carefully constructed or by its appeal to the hearer; or the standing ovation at the end or the number of Amens or high 5s…all this means is that you have preached well. It does not necessarily mean that you have delivered that which is in the mind and heart of Christ; some of the greatest messages you will hear are formulated in the laboratory of the human intellect.
A Word from the mouth of God will never be forgotten. Pharaoh never forgot Moses’ message. Ahab never forgot Elijah’s message.
The wife of Jeroboam will never forget the prophet Ahijah’s message.
King Hezekiah will never forget the Isaiah’s message. 15 years to your life. SPECIFIC, CLASSIFIED INFORMATION. Divine intelligence.
The king’s officer in Samaria will never forget Elisha’s message:
2 Kings 7:1
‘Tomorrow about this time a seah of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria.’ ”
SPECIFIC INSTRUCTION. This is not about someone with a back ache being healed ; or a person by the name of John in a crowd of 5000….your need is being addressed right now.
We are talking about intelligence from the throne room of God being communicated to His faithful servants.
An authentic word from the mouth of God changes lives, changes cities, changes nations…. Because it is backed by the power of God.
Study the word God placed in the mouth of Moses to be delivered to Pharaoh:
Ex 9:13-14
Let my people go, so that they may worship me, 14 or this time I will send the full force of my plagues against you and against your officials and your people, so you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth.
Ten plagues later, the Word placed in the mouth of Moses came to pass. There is no one like Him in all the earth.
We must observe the expectations of God from His priesthood. If there is any area that we need to exactly represent God, it is in the area of communication.
John 12:49-50
49 For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak. 50 And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak.”
The message we impart has to exactly represent what is in the heart and mind of Christ.
When we speak what the Lord has commanded us to speak, that which as been spoken is incontestable. We don’t have to defend the Word that the Lord has given you to speak. We are servants functioning under orders, wholly supervised by the Holy Spirit. We are simply delivering a package that has been entrusted into our custody.
We are qualified by God on the basis of how we communicate that which He has entrusted us with. Our faithfulness in communicating Divine truth is what establishes our ministries as a sure house. This is the reason our Forum has been kept by Him for all these years as a sure house.
We have proven to Him that we are trustworthy custodians and deliverers of that which resides in His heart and in His mind.
God demonstrated this clearly in His appointment of David. The job description was simple. The qualifications were clear.
The apostle Paul referred to the events leading up to the appointment of David in Antioch, saying:
Acts 13:21-22
21 And afterward they asked for a king; so God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. 22 And when He had removed him, He raised up for them David as king, to whom also He gave testimony and said, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will.’
God made His position clear even in the case of Eli, whose leadership was found wanting.
1 Sam 2:35
35 Then I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest who shall do according to what is in My heart and in My mind. I will build him a sure house, and he shall walk before My anointed forever.
The demand of the priesthood is to do all that is in the heart and mind of God. To communicate exactly what is in the heart and mind of Christ.
Let us see the pattern set before us with God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
John 16:12-15
12 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.
This is the pattern we ought to follow. Speak only that which we hear. The glory for the revelation has to be directed back to its source, the Lord Jesus Christ. This means we now have to change our perception.
We cannot claim ownership or copyright to any thing that we preach. It does not belong to us. It belongs to Him. We are simply the carriers of spiritual intelligence. Glory must be directed to Him. All that is being released from the heart of the Father belongs to Christ.
One of my favorite stories in the Bible is about the prophet Micaiah.
There was a meeting between Jehoshaphat, king of Judah and the King of Israel.
The King of Israel wanted Jehoshaphat’s assistance in overthrowing Ramoth Gilead which was under Syrian control.
1 Kings 22:5
5 And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “Please inquire for the word of the LORD today.”
The prophetic company of 400 were summoned and they were complete agreement…they spoke as ONE man.
“Go up, for the Lord will deliver it into the hand of the king.”
There is a real danger of us surrounding ourselves with positive, encouraging, agreeing individuals.
This is not spiritual intelligence. This is a Word prepared to put the king in a good mood.
1 Kings 22:7-8
“Is there not still a prophet of the LORD here, that we may inquire of Him?”
You going to die.
1 Kings 22:27
“Put this fellow in prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and water of affliction, until I come in peace.” ‘
If we are not careful, this is where spiritual intelligence can be relegated to; in prison. The carriers being fed with the bread and water of affliction.
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